INDIA 83

tion, especially when this suggestion is in accord with their pre-
conceived Anglo-Saxon idea that the Oriental and man of colour
is an inferior being and should be treated as such. On their
arrival in the country, whether as civil servants, as soldiers or in
commerce, they occupy by inheritance the privileged position
that their predecessors have established. The success of their
careers amongst their fellow countrymen depends upon their
ability and their qualifications. They have to make good. But
in their relations with the Indian they start at the top of the tree—
the tree of so-called " racial superiority." They fall into line
with the only class with whom association is made possible, their
own countrymen. Together they form a bloc whose every action
is determined by tradition and whose outlook is, from circum-
stances for which they often are not to blame, extremely limited.
The result is that the social life of the vast majority of the English
in India is ruled by inherited conventions which are to-day
almost universally accepted, and accepted with conviction. The
white minority acts collectively in what it considers to be the
legitimate defence of its rights and privileges. The result is that
the traveller who looks about him will too often be brought face
to face with exhibitions of arrogance that cannot fail to distress
and disturb him.

There are of course questions of race and religion and, more
particularly, of custom and outlook, that may prevent social
intercourse in the sense understood in England—but is such
social intercourse necessary for the maintenance of sympathetic
understanding ? I think not. It should be a matter of personal
inclination on both sides. It is probable that in adopting a line
of conduct that under existing circumstances it is difficult for
him to avoid, the Englishman in India is unconscious that he is
putting in practice a doctrine that is as false in its inception as it
has proved injurious in its results. Cordial relations, or at least
cordial contact, between human beings inhabiting the same
country, of whatever race or colour, of whatever religion or
intellectual standard, is a necessity of modern civilization.
There need be no loss of dignity—there can only be a gain of
respect—in the exhibition of sympathy and goodwill. To hold
India without these essentials may^ have been possible in the
past. It is dangerous to-day and may be fatal to-morrow.

No matter what may be the future form of Government,
India is faced by grave problems, which the European War and
its consequences have undoubtedly accentuated. The building